Feedly Rocks The Top Of News App Charts for iOS and Android

Who didn’t see this coming? When the nail in the coffin was announced for Google Reader, another service was bound to rise up from the ranks and take the crown. And now word has come in — the heir apparent seems to be Feedly. We included it in our round-up of Google Reader alternatives, and it has been setting the RSS world on fire.

Feedly has breached the half-million user mark. According to the App Store and Google Play, they’re also killing it on the mobile field. At one point, it dominated the news app category for iPhones, iPads and Androids this week, though it has since fallen to No. 2 on the Apple tablet, and No. 4 on iPhone. But hey, Androiders still have love for the app. As of this writing, it was still No. 1 on the charts there.

What’s so good about it? Well, it costs nothing, works on various platforms and across different devices. If you have a Google Reader account, importing is ridiculously easy, and the company’s working on its own syncing engine to prepare for GReader’s end. In other words, get cozy with Feedly now and when Google hits the kill switch on its own RSS service, you may not even notice. And it offers loads of sharing features, whether you’re on Twitter, Facebook and Google+, or Evernote, Pinterest and LinkedIn, and it also integrates with Buffer, Pocket and Instapaper.

Then there’s the interface. Talk about clean, elegant and very user-friendly. And best of all, it offers a pretty fast and stable experience.

If, however, you don’t like change and would rather stick with what you know, then there’s another alternative: The Old Reader. This popular offering nearly replicates the Google Reader experience. Unfortunately, it can’t beat the stability and speed of Feedly — especially now, since it has been getting hammered after Google’s announcement — but at least it allows you to stay firmly in denial about GReader’s demise.

Which RSS feed reader do you use? Tell us about your favorites, or your impressions of either of these alternatives, in the comments below.

Adriana Lee

Adriana is the resident writer-slash-culture vulture who has written about everything from smartphones, tablets, apps, accessories, and small biz technology to cooking, fashion, pop culture, newsmakers and the arts. She…